Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has said that forming a government when the next Dail sits on June 14 this not just a question of making up numbers and that he will seek to form a government that is stable.
Mr Ahern today refused to discuss the specifics of which party or elected TDs he might seek to do business with to form a government, but he said he hoped to be in a position to form a government when the new Dáil sits.
Speaking on RTÉ radio, Mr Ahern said he had made it clear throughout the campaign that "the people will decide" and that account would have to be taken of that to form a stable government.
Mr Ahern said he would work out tactics with his colleagues next week, including deputy leader Brian Cowen and the Fianna Fáil officer board.
Asked about the possibilities for forming a government with the PDs, the Green Party or the Labour Party, Mr Ahern said there were "a lot of options".
"We just have to work that out. I'm not sure if they're all available. I'm not too sure they're all credible options, but we will work it out and we will do our utmost to form a government on [June] 14 th," he said.
"I think what we have to take account of, the main thing is, our mandate. I think what people wanted is a stable government. They want stability, they want the policies that we have been implementing and the ones we have presented to the people implemented and we need a stable government to do that. The reform agenda, continuing on with the work that Mary Harney was doing in health, and that requires a stable government to implement those kind of policies."
On whether Ms Harney might indeed continue in government alongside Fianna Fáil, Mr Ahern said he did not have a difficulty in forming a government with the Progressive Democrats and independents.
"But we have to look at it. As I said all the way through, the people would decide a certain way then we would have to take account of that and we would have to form a government that would be stable."
Mr Ahern said he had ended a period of instability in Irish life by having fixed terms for government.
"It's important for the image of the country, internally, externally, that people can deal with whatever government it is. It gives certainty to economic investment, to our international agreements, our international tax positions. And it's important we do that. So stability is just number one on my agenda."
On whether he might do a deal with the Green Party, Mr Ahern said he was more anxious today to get through the final counts. He had to examine areas where seats were lost and where there had been "spectacular victories".
"I know you'd love me to tell you exactly what I'm going to do but I'm not going to do that today because we have to think that one through."
"We have to have a programme for government. It's not just a question of doing an arrangement for numbers on the day."
It was about putting together a "dynamic" government that could continue to bring Ireland forward not backward and to implement policies that were good for the country and to keep Ireland strong.
Potential coalition partners for Fianna Fáil were still retaining a degree of circumspection about whether they are prepared to go into government with Bertie Ahern's party.
Labour Party leader Pat Rabbitte has said he will not lead his party into government with Fianna Fáil.
Green Party leader Trevor Sargent, who looks set to head a total of six Green TDs in the Dáil, said that once his party had clarified and focused on the issues in hand, they would "definitely" be discussing with other parties the possibility of forming a stable government.
The party had been working for many months with a 'preparation for government' group and had worked on policy areas, he said.
However, Mr Sargent insisted that Green Party policies needed to be discussed before any such arrangement was reached. He said banning corporate donations would be high on his party's agenda if it was to enter into a government with Fianna Fáil.
He said that going into the general election, the "clear, overwhelming" view from the party membership was that the Green Party had to be independent. Otherwise they would get "lost" in the two-horse race between the bigger parties, which had happened to some degree.
On whether he would lead his party into government with Fianna Fáil, as he has repeatedly said he would not do, Mr Sargent said the party had gone into the election with a mandate to change the Government.
"I took that very personally and I regard it as my mandate as leader to implement. If I don't bring about that mandate in terms of changing government, then I have to step down," he said.
Mr Sargent said the driving motivation behind a motion passed by his party's membership was that the country needed new leadership with Green policies at the heart of it.
"Our own priority is to meet together so that we can evaluate our own outcomes and then once we have clarified and focused on the work in hand, we will definitely be talking to others about the formation of a stable and effective, progressive governnment for the next five years. But first of all, we have to meet together as a party and we're not going to be rushing our fences, given that the work is very serious and we are taking it seriously."
Mr Sargent said he believed it was too early to be as categorical as to say that a stable government could not be put together by anyone except Bertie Ahern.